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 | "Destructive Superstition" | |
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| After 20 years of intensive investigation and research, during which time he lived among the native people of Peru, Dr. William Sullivan has published his work under the title, "Secret of the Incas". His research answers a question that has puzzled historians for decades. How was it that a mere 170, lightly armed Spanish adventurers, all in poor physical condition, were able to conquer a 7,000,000 strong empire the size of that of ancient Rome? It is the story of a clash of two cultures whose beliefs were in direct opposition to each other. On one hand we have a people whose history can be traced back to 150 B.C. Living under the clear skies of the High Andes, they spent each night beneath the canopy of the full brilliance of the Milky Way. It is to be expected that they quickly came to associate the movement of those stars with the rotation of the seasons, their lives being measured by the celestial clock. With the progress of time they developed a very sophisticated cosmology that was not to be equalled in Europe for over 2,000 yrs. Each tribal unit was credited as descended from the stars, and, therefore their homelands were represented by the constellations.They modelled their civilisation on the harmony of the heavens and achieved a peaceful coexistence that lasted for 800 years; something that the rest of the world has never known. |
| It is ironic that they began to sow the seeds of their own destruction when they adapted their religious system to accomodate astrology; believing that the stars above had a direct influence upon their lives. That which was below, reflecting that which was above. Each year the solstices displayed two familiar patterns, with the sunrise coinciding with the point at which certain parts of the Milky Way crossed the horizon. As the dawn broke across the mountains, they saw in the suns rays, golden causeways to the heavens. One of these royal roads was believed to be the road by which they had concourse with the gods, whilst the other road was the direct connection to their ancestors. They had no way of knowing of the pregression of the stars. Because of the incredibly great distances involved, it takes centuries to measure the almost imperceptible way in which the stars creep further and further out of alignment with our solar system. This is the reason why, for the past 58 years (2000 AD) there have been 14 signs of the zodiac in our arc of the universe. The twelve zodiacal houses of the ancient Assyrians no longer have any validity. The point came home to them on the June solstice of 650 AD, when the Milky Way no longer appeared in its appointed place. Their priests saw this as proof positive that the gods had turned their backs upon their chosen people. The causeway to the gods had closed, and the once stable civilisation simply fell apart in civil war and internecine squabbling that lasted for almost 800 years. In this time, the belief-shattered people came close to destroying their own land, each splintered clan holding its own valley or hilltop against all comers. One of these besieged tribes were the Incas as we know them. They alone had kept the old knowledge and their faith. Around the year 1442 there were three events that changed their history forever. The stars had continued their remorseless pregression and, at the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the solstice of that year, it was seen that the sacred causeway to the ancestors was also closed to them. The Emperor, Viracocha, prophesied that, at the time of the fifth emperor, there would come an end to their existence. |
| It was his son, Pachacuti, who refused to lie down and wait for the inevitable. He seems to have reasoned that, if the actions of the earthbound where a reflection of the actions of the heavens, then perhaps the reverse could also be made true. If they could rebuild a society on earth that was a reflection of the harmony of the heavens, then perhaps the gods could be induced to wind back time. The Incas burst out of their mountain stronghold and set about welding the surrounding tribes into another empire. Within a mere ninety years they had achieved their purpose. Their accomplishment was a sophisticated civilisation of 7,000,000 peoples that stretched for a thousand miles from Colombia in the north to Chile in the south. They built a highly successful agrarian system, temples, palaces, and roads along which travelled goods and couriers. They even had a system of social welfare; men and women being considered worthy of retirement at the age of 60. It was then that they began the practice of sacrificing their children, sending them as messengers to the gods to notify them of the mending of their ways. Then came the time of the fifth emperor, and the gods gave them an answer. |
| It was 1532, and, thousands of miles away in Europe, events had also been moving. The Spanish Empire was in an era of expansion, and the power of the King's armies and the dreaded Inquisition were seen as threats to the other powers of the known world. The Catholic myth was that the sun revolved around the earth, which was the centre of the universe. Any conflicting ideas were a threat. Their anathema was a growing scientific methodology, particularly the broadcasting of any knowledge that suggested that the earth was really a rather inconspicuous planet on the outer fringes of the universe. Gold, lots of it, was needed to pay the troops that had been committed to beating back the expansion of Islam. The younger sons of impoverished nobility saw the chance of making names and wealth for themselves, and with an entourage of fanatical priests, looked for places to loot. Two of these men, Cortez and Pizzarro, decided to travel to the colonies in South America to search for the legendary El Dorado, the city of gold. Leaving the safety of the coastal towns, they struck out into the trackless, hostile jungle. Whatever we may think of their motivation, their's was an heroic undertaking, not all those who set out lived to tell the tale. Months later, the ragged survivors entered the kingdom of the Incas; and it is at that point that the mystery began. The Incas had a standing army of 100,000 men who could have wiped out the intruders at any stage of their incursion, but they were unmolested as they looted and pillaged their way across the land. Finally, it was decided enough was enough and there came the day when 170 terrified Spaniards found themselves confronted by an army of 40,000 warriors. They had no choice but to go forward, and the battle was joined. At the end of the day, 7,000 Incas lay dead or dying without harm being done to a single Spaniard. The Incas attempted to block the way without making any attempt to defend themselves. Forty men fell to every Spaniard who confronted them. The Incas believed the Spaniards to be part of god's purpose. Hard on the heels of the pillaging troops came the priests, bent on wiping out the heresy of astronomy. Within fifty years, only 2,000,000 Incas were left out of a once proud nation of 7,000,000. Their self fulfilling prophesy had worked against them. Myths are myths, and superstitions are something else. |